The following organizations and sources offer information and services for survivors of suicide.

Resources in or near Santa Fe

Santa Fe Survivors of Suicide
Sponsors of the site you’re reading!
Contact Us!

Albuquerque Survivors of Suicide Volunteer support group that serves the needs of people suffering the loss of someone they love by suicide.
Contact by phone: Al and Melinda Vigil, (505) 792-7461
www.sosabq.org

Compassionate Friends
Support group for parents, grandparents and adult siblings whose child has died at any age from any cause: Meets from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on the first and third Tuesday of the month at 1400 Chama Ave.
Contact by phone: Owen at (505) 988-2211

Gerard’s House of Santa Fe
Gerard’s House is a safe place for grieving children, teens and young adults that offers facilitated peer grief support, crisis response and education. Services are offered free to those who have experienced the death of a close family member or friend. Contact phone, (505) 424-1800
gerardshouse.org

Los Alamos Survivors of Suicide
This support group provides a safe and confidential environment where people can benefit from the experience of others. Meeting the 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month, 6:00-7:30 pm at 190 Central Park Square, Conference Room.
Contacts: Aimee Schnedler (505) 695-5188 or Laura Woodring (505) 948-8752

Overcoming the Stigma of Suicide
This is a newspaper article on the stigma surrounding suicide (November, 2011) from the perspective of two women vital to Santa Fe local outreach and education on the subject of suicide.
www.santafenewmexican.com/localnews/Overcoming-the-stigma-of-suicide

SUICIDE: FINDING HOPE
This profound web site provides help to navigate the lonely and confusing journey after a suicide and is the inspiration of a Santa Fe mother after the loss of her son to suicide.
www.SuicideFindingHope.com

New Mexico Crisis and Access Line   855-NMCRISIS (855-662-7474)

Staffed my mental health professionals 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Organizations

American Association of Suicidology
Here you will find a wealth of national resources about suicide categorized for different groups, from students to statistics to media professionals to special populations and more.
www.suicidology.org/resources/media-professionals

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP)
The AFSP has long been at the forefront of a wide range of suicide prevention initiatives designed to reduce loss of life from suicide. Activities include investing in research, educational campaigns, projects and policy work as well as assistance to people whose lives have been affected by suicide. The web site also has a directory of support groups by state and town.
www.afsp.org

Center for Loss and Life Transition
Founded and run by Dr. Alan Wolfelt, who wrote the books that have been of greatest help to my sister-in-law, and other members of her community)
www.centerforloss.com/about-dr-alan-wolfelt/

Center for a New American Security (CNAS)
An independent and nonpartisan research institution, CNAS leads efforts to help inform and prepare the national security leaders of today and tomorrow. This policy brief, Losing the Battle: The Challenge of Military Suicide, prepared in October of 2011, is a in depth look at suicide in the military and among military veterans.

PDF

The Samaritans
Samaritans USA is the coalition of the 11 non-profit, non-religious Samaritans suicide prevention centers in the United States. Its primary purpose is to further the Samaritian’s principles of befriending people who are depressed, in crisis and suicidal as practiced on or through our volunteer-staffed crisis response hotlines, public education programs and suicide survivor support groups.
www.samaritansnyc.org/organization.html

Online Resources

Alliance of Hope for Suicide Survivors
A website for survivors that includes a lively discussion forum, links to support groups, a recommended book list, even poetry.
www.ForSuicideSurvivors.com

Compassion at Work
Managing grief in the workplace.
www.compassionatwork.com

Friends and Families of Suicides
Remembering friends and family of those who lost their lives to suicide.
www.FriendsandFamiliesofSuicide.com

The Gift of Keith
A website for suicide survivors created by Carol Loehr in memory of her son Keith. Designed to help comfort and inform survivors of suicide, and to educate clergy, health care professionals and counselors. A wide variety of survivor resources.
http://thegiftofkeith.org/info/main.html

Memory Tree of Lights
The “Memory Tree of Lights” is a ministry which focuses on the Christmas holiday season and provides comfort, education, intervention and hope to people whose lives have been impacted by the loss of someone to suicide and who are overwhelmed by this loss during the Christmas season.
www.memorytrees.org

Parents of Suicides
Support for parents who have lost sons or daughters to suicide. Offshoot site of Friends and Families of Suicides.
pos-ffos.com

The Sibling Connection
This site has been created as a resource for anyone who has experienced the death of a brother or sister. It educates and provides information such as the theoretical stages of grief from different experts as well as exploring sibling grief with movies, psychology, and other cultures.
www.counselingstlouis.net

Sibling Survivors
A web site dedicated to support for people who have lost a sibling to suicide.
Note: The link below will direct you to the page on Sibling Grief, but the entire site is a rich and uncommon resource for sibling survivors.
siblingsurvivors.com/sibling-grief/

Suicide Perspective
This is a very up close and personal website developed by a couple of retired teachers who lost their son to suicide in 1999. Suicide Perspective is intended to show that suicide is the end result of a brain disorder.
www.suicideperspective.com

Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide
Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide is a UK charity that exists to meet the needs and break the isolation of those bereaved by the suicide of a close relative or friend. Their website contains a variety of support material, including testimonies written by survivors.
www.sobs.admin.care4free.net

Survivors of Suicide web site
The purpose of the Survivors Of Suicide web site is to help those who have lost a loved one to suicide resolve their grief and pain in their own personal way.
www.survivorsofsuicide.com

Healing Music

Music for the Soul
Chaos of the Heart, a CD of music and spoken word, is a Christian faith-based resource for those grieving the loss of a loved one to suicide.
www.musicforthesoul.org/resources/chaos-of-the-heart

Steven Halpern
His music is scientifically engineered to induce restful brain wave states, and is available with or without guided imagery narration.
www.innerpeacemusic.com

Sonicaid Music Label
Other fine examples of therapeutic music are on the Sonicaid label. The nice thing about the music is that you can have it running in the background and it can still have a beneficial effect.
Sonicaid

Books

Understanding Your Grief: Ten Essential Touchstones for Finding Hope and Healing Your Heart  by Dr. Alan Wolfelt

I Wasn’t Ready to Say Goodbye  by Brook Noel & Pamela D Blair

This book is a sort of primer – not dedicated to suicide per se, but includes chapters about the various types of sudden death loss, and the various categories of survivors of loss. It may be a way to ‘dip your toes into the water’ without having to commit too much energy to it – and yet still benefit from the effort.

Tear Soup  by several authors

It looks like a children’s book, but it’s written for adults. A book you’ll want to share with other survivors. This book is also available on DVD and is used by grief counselors.

Suicide Survivors: A Guide for those Left Behind  by Adina Wrobleski

This author is very readable, concise, and helpful (in a very pragmatic, yet compassionate way). She also wrote Suicide Why: 85 Questions and Answers About Suicide. Ms. Wrobleski is deceased and her books are not always available for sale, but try Amazon.com.

No Time to Say Goodbye  by Carla Fine, published by Doubleday

Why Suicide?  by Eustace Chesser, published by Arrow Books

The Centering Corporation

Large catalogue of grief books

7230 Maple St.; Omaha NE 68134

Phone: (402) 553-1200

www.centering.org

More Resources…

Baton Rouge Crisis Intervention Center http://brcic.org/sosresources.aspx